Resolved: That Cllr. Hogarth be appointed as Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing municipal year.

 (Cllr. Hogarth in the Chair)

Resolved: That Cllr. Abraham be appointed as Vice Chairman of the Committee for the ensuing municipal year.

Any interests not already registered

No additional declarations of interest were made.

With the agreement of the Committee, the Chairman advised that he move back his Portfolio Holder update to be taken after agenda item 7.

There were none.

Members received a short presentation by the Chief Housing Officer, Head of Economic Development & Property, Health & Community Services Manager and Community Safety Manager on the role of the Committee, its areas of responsibility and key issues and challenges facing those areas. 

Action 1: External website links for: West Kent Leader Grant programme; the Sevenoaks District Council Safeguarding policy for children and vulnerable adults; Sevenoaks District Community Grants Scheme; and Sevenoaks District Sports Council and Arts Council to be circulated to all Members of the Advisory Committee

Resolved:  That the report be noted.

Presentation by Cheryl Parker, Head of Development, Partnerships and Funding at Visit Kent

Members received a presentation from Cheryl Parker, Head of Development, Partnerships and Funding at Visit Kent.

Queries were raised with regards to the efficacy of the search engines and website links on the Visit Kent and Visit Sevenoaks website, with particular reference to Westerham.  A member of the public who worked on the Westerham Town Partnership website amongst others, addressed the Committee raising some questions and offering her services for free.  It was requested that direct contact be made with town partnerships rather than through the Parish and Town Councils.   The Health & Community Services Manager advised that the Visit Sevenoaks District Website was still under development and that initially contact was made via the Parish and Town Councils, and then to other organisations such as town partnerships.  The Chairman gave assurance that the Council was keen to get the best possible representation for every community across the whole District. 

In response to a question concerning the lack of night time economy information, Cheryl Parker advised that there was work being carried out and better communication of arts and culture events and theatre, cinema and festivals etc but much of the information relied on it being communicated to them especially for the events section.  It was suggested the online form may be too complicated.  The Health & Community Services Manager responded that under the developing ‘Visit Sevenoaks’ site she would look to develop a theme of ‘things to do after dark.’

Overnight stay capacity was not as good as the rest of Kent, however the fall in recent numbers would not appear to be due to lack of capacity and was in line with national tourism trends..  Despite the reduction spend per head had increased, and there was an increase in overseas visitors.

The Chairman thanked Cheryl on behalf of the Committee.

The Chairman and Portfolio Holder for Economic & Community Development, tabled a list detailing which committees each member of the Advisory Committee sat on, and requested that Members had mind to economic and community development issues when sitting elsewhere. 

Action 2:  The Head of Economic Development & Property to circulate tips and information on improving Broadband speed.

The Community Safety Manager gave a brief presentation on the Sevenoaks District Community Safety Partnership Annual Report.

Action 3:  The Community Safety Manager to circulate links to the Council’s Safeguarding Policy for Children and Vulnerable Adults  and the Kent County Council rogue traders information.

The work plan was noted with the following additions agreed: